A Stuggle Against Storms
by Vech2514
Summary: Finn is 19 and bitter. The love of his life Princess Bubblegum is now married to Prince Twizzy and Finn is left to continue protecting Ooo. But when he meets the fun loving Cosmic Princess a hurricane of events break out and Finn finds himself swept away in the gale. Meanwhile Marcy finds herself labeled public enemy #1... -I DONT OWN ADVENTURE TIME- (FINNxOC)(Serious storyline)
1. A Bitter Anniversary

_Prologue: 'Why? Why me? Why __**not**__ me?' Finn made slow progress on his way back to his treehouse. Jake, his brother, was treading next to him but remained silent giving his bro some much needed space. Finn was at one of his moments of catharsis, sometimes the frustration of rejection from his beloved princess just needed to be let out. He just couldn't let it go that he wasn't __**good **__enough for her. He understood the rejection when he was younger but now he stood at about five foot eleven and had a slender yet hard, mean build. He was old enough now yet the rejection continued, every time ripping at his hold on stability. He never gave up hope on maybe some day things would change... but now with that __**Twizzy**__ guy in the picture – _

_ Finn was roused from his thoughts by a distant plea for help. Jake's ears perked up listening, another girlish scream rent the cool dusk air. _

"_That sounds like Flambo bro, we should go see what he needs this time," Jake started heading towards the sound, but looked back when he noticed Finn's blatant __**lack**__ of following him. _

"_I'm not in the mood for that now Jake, it's Flambo. It'll just be something pointless like is was last week and the week before. He's probably just dropped a piece of coal in a hole or something. I'm going home he can deal with it himself." _

_Jake's face displayed only shock, "But DUDE! You're a hero! You're supposed to help people when they're in need-" _

"_In __**need**__," Finn cut in, "Not for pointless junk! I'm tired of it man!" _

"_But what if he's in some serious danger dude! Do you want that on your conscience?"_

_Finn looked down and clenched his jaw. He knew Jake was right, he should go regardless of his mood. 'Well maybe there'll be a giant robo-rabbit or something fun to fight,' he thought to himself._

"_Alright," he said letting out a sigh, "let's get going."_

_ They headed in the direction of the sound they'd heard. Finn noted with a bit of uneasiness the lack of any further cries of help. He and Jake came upon a rocky outcropping and headed around the edge. Finn felt the air turn to ice around him, he looked down upon a scene of horror splayed out before him. The little flambit he knew and cared for was lying at his feet... among a few other nearby places._

Chapter One – A Bitter Anniversary

Finn was dressed up. He has his nicest suit on which accented his rather formidable stature and strong shoulders. He wore a nicest light blue tie and for once was without his signature bear hat. It wasn't his Prince Hotbod suit (he out grew that a number of years ago), but this outfit was nothing short of it. He'd cut his hair, thoroughly bathed, shaved, trimmed his nails, and even put on some cologne. He'd likely never been in better condition. He hated ever second of it.

Tonight was the anniversary of _that day_. The day he was still bitter about. The day he'd lost hope on ever getting what he wanted. He was on his way with Jake to the anniversary party of Queen Bubblegum and King Twizzy's marriage.

Finn let out a sigh. He wasn't angry at QB nor was he mad at KT, but he was mad... mad at fate maybe? He knew, he could see, that the two genuinely cared for each other, and he couldn't blame them for that. They were after all a very good match. Yet Finn couldn't help being bitter that he didn't have that. He wanted – he _needed_ that. Now though, Finn was reduced to putting on a show of friendliness whenever in the presence of his majesties. To her, he was still nothing but a loyal servant and old friend.

Finn checked the time. '_It's almost 7:30... I need to get Jake in a minute...' _Finn felt tired, this was one of the few days he let his emotional exhaustion come to the forefront of his mind. He never had the time or luxury any other time, ever since that other day... the day he failed. He'd started an organization based in the Candy Kingdom but holding jurisdiction throughout Ooo known as the Command of Continental Security, of which he was the head. It was the first time he took a serious responsibility for the safety of Ooo and being as busy as he was he couldn't chance letting his emotions get in the way of his work. Not if he didn't want a repeat of the day that still haunts his nightmares.

"One day... I will have closure..." he said quietly to himself as he remembered the events of that day.

Finn snapped back to reality. He checked the time again and called up to his brother, "Hey Jake! Get down here! We're gonna be late!" Finn watched as the magic golden bulldog stretched his way down to the main floor.

"Ahg!" Jake groaned rubbing his back, "I'm getting too old for this junk, Finn. We ready to head out?"

"Almost," said the human, eying his brother, "you aren't dressed yet dude."

"Huh?" Jake looked down at himself, "Oh, hehe, my bad." He quickly morphed his torso into the image of a suit and bow tie. "There! All ready." And with that the duo made their way to the Candy Kingdom Palace.

When the human and his dog arrived it turned out that the majority of the guests had already made it to the Party hall. Bubblegum and Twizzy, to Finn's relief, hadn't made their grand appearance yet, so in the meantime the two went about and mingled with the crowd. Jake parted to go hang out with Lady and some of their other friends while Finn located a group of his Command buddies and joined them. They spent a good fifteen minutes catching up, discussing the 'scenery' and making inside jokes, when finally the topic Finn knew would come up reared its ugly head.

"So," started Crust, one of the newer members of the Command, "a full year huh? It's only been that long and things 'round here have been looking a lot better."

Herick, a man made of sandstone who held the role of best sense of humor in the group, let of a bellow of laughter, "You make it out like 't wus 'orrible er somethin' before then!"

"Well you gotta admit a lot of things have improved, even if it wasn't bad," interjected tall cat-like creature by the name of Thints, "The over all quality of life's gone straight up, we've never had better international relations, we're even getting trade in with the Fire Kingdom, nation wide the crime rate plummeted – ''

"Too be fair," Interjected their second in Commander, a gray-skin humanoid with pointed ears with windswept tan hair, "the latter is more likely due to us and 'ol Finny." The wind magi, Bersi, inclined his head toward the silent human with a slightly amused looked on his face.

The group's gaze followed Bersi's over to the human whose face showed only implacable disinterest in the topic at hand.

"Undoubtedly the crime rate is attributed to us in part, but we as an organization would not exist if not for Her Majesty's will," Finn's voice had noticeably taken a tone gave the impression of being rehearsed and and obligatory.

With a smile on his face Herick opened his mouth to interject something, when he was cut of by an announcer proclaiming the arrival of some late coming royalties to the party. Finn rolled his eyes and he heard several of his comrades groan when Lumpy Space Princess entered dramatically squeezed into a horrid red sequence dress. Finn smiled slightly when out of the corner of his eye he noticed Herick making gagging motions. After LSP was done posing and showing off, in came breakfast princess in a modest simple maple syrup colored dress. Finn watched as the procession of princess made the entrances, _'Jake keeps telling me I need to settle down, but...' _looking at these princesses Finn couldn't help but feel slightly... repulsed. Not that they were repulsive looking, but the thought of them _that way_ just gave Finn a sick feeling. _'I can't settle down with someone I can't be attracted to... I'm just gonna end up living as I have for the remainder of my life.' _And Finn wasn't necessarily saddened by this thought.

"Arriving all the way from the land of night, stars and storms! The young and beautiful Alliah, Princess of the Cosmic Kingdom!"

At this point no body was really paying attention to the announcer anymore, but out of simple curiosity, not having heard of the Cosmic Kingdom before, Finn glanced over to the entrance of the Party hall. He had to do a double take.

In walked young girl of maybe 5'3'', her skin was a light gentle shade of blue. She had on a slim dress of a dark blue that had convoluted streaks of white, black and pruple that softly blended into the dominant color. Her skin looked smooth and soft, the edges of her figure seemed to the human – he could think of no other word than _warm_ – and then there was her hair. Flowing just past her shoulders, her hair flowed liked water seemingly to defy gravity, it was dominantly white but had shades of silver and blue wafting within it. Finn watched as she walked to the announcer and thanked him then proceeded into the hall and walk past him. Her face seemed to have an expression that was about to start good naturedly tease you. Then she glanced over to where he was and he caught her eye before she looked away and continued on. '_Her eyes...' _they were _green_ but they had streaks of silver swirling around her irises where they melted in the deep black center of her pupils.

_'Alliah...'  
_

**Author's Note:** This is my second attempt at a story, I'm hoping that it will be easier for me to write in the perspective of someone more mature in their thoughts... This is about Finn and a new character Cosmic Princess. I'm hoping people will like it, just lemme know. I'll try to update regularly.

Lemme know of any errors and stuff... I did this in one night.


	2. A Change In Situation

Chapter Two – A Change In Situation

Without warning something heavy and hard rammed into his side, nearly knocking the human over. Finn flinched and snapped his head over to the direction of his attacker. There was only the stone elemental, Herick, pointedly looking elsewhere trying to appear innocent but a smile forced its way onto his face as he looked over to the man he undoubtedly just bruised.  
"Sorry boss," his rumbling voiced drawled, "just trying to keep your head out of the cosmos." He winked at him before turning back to the rest of the group.  
Finn quickly put a relaxed appearance back on, that was... an unsettling experience to say the least. He only realized now that his attention had been completely captivated by the appearance of that bluish girl. He was actually grateful to Herick for waking him up so he could start thinking clearly again. Finn winced painfully as he rubbed his bruised arm. Having solid rock casually plow into the side of your arm unexpectedly though, was not a pleasant experience.  
Finn shook his head and cleared his thoughts pushing anymore thoughts of the blue girl out before they could take hold and then he jumped back into the conversation at hand.  
"-be the work of Vampires, I'm telling you. What else could or even would result in their insides being removed like that?"  
"I'm 'ith Crusty on dis one," Herick agreed, "them leeches are the only ones who could get away wit' 't. Plus," he added, "we all know vampers 'ave always been 'messy eaters.'"  
Finn's mind recalled the various scenes of carnage that had been cropping up recently and couldn't help but be reminded of that day again. "I highly doubt there is any vampiric involvement guys, Vampires are only interested in blood, not guts. Besides, if a vampire was involved Marceline would have informed us."  
At the mention of the Vampire Queen Herick raised an eyebrow, nudge-nudged Thints and gave a wink in Finn's direction. Finn rolled his eyes in exasperation. Thints, still trying to contain a smile, offered,

"How I see it we've been too lenient with the vampires, considering their power and potential they should not be allowed the amount of freedom we've allowed them. Letting them roam free with that kind of power and influence is _dangerous_. We all know that vampiric crime is among the highest–"

"That's enough, Thints." the human's voice cut in authoritative and finalizing. "We aren't here for discussing work, this is a celebration. Let's talk about something else."

"Anyone hear about the new Kingdom?" The magi offered, still with an amused expression, "Apparently it only made contact with the rest of Ooo a mere month ago, it's a nation of _cosmic elementals_." Finn felt the heat rise in him. He knew what Bersi was doing, and scolded himself for letting it affect him.

"Ya I heard about them," said Crust, "apparently they've got the _best _whiskey."

"I say welcome to the family!" said Herick.

Everyone laughed at this but they were cut short when a short, round candy man made an appearance in their group.

"How you doing, Peppermint Butler?" asked Finn warmly.

"Well, thank you. Pardon the interruption gentlemen but I just wanted to let you know that the Queen and King will be making their appearance shortly." replied the peppermint man giving Finn and the rest a meaningful look.

Finn nodded, "Understood."

As the group went back to their conversations Finn observed the members of his circle. There was Crust who, ironically, was a living marshmallow. While not a good fighter, he was excellent at strategy, planning, and policy. Of the group he was the observer while not afraid to start a conversation he liked to generally sit back and see what everyone had to say. There was also Thints, a member of a rare cat race in Ooo, very strong headed and opinionated and a dextrous fighter. Finn could remember when he first sparred with Thints the feline within the first few seconds had knocked him on his butt. Then there was Herick, a stone elemental with a rough, accented voice. He was a surprisingly passive person, always trying to lighten the mood with humor and the man was _tough_. He'd once seen him take a direct hit from a giant and not budge an inch.

Finally, there was Bersi. His second in Command. Bersi was not by far the most powerful mage in Ooo, but he was damn clever and used that to his advantage when he lacked power. But Bersi gave Finn a very 'cloak and dagger' impression. He knew that Bersi was consistently attempting to discredit Finn, whether he intended to usurp him though he was unsure. Bersi was intelligent and observant, he of anyone was Finn's number one threat. Which is why Finn kept him close, very close.

An announcer appeared in the hall, "Ladies and Gentlemen! I present to you our superlative majesties! Queen Bubblegum and King Twizzy!"

The two monarchs appeared on a balcony overlooking their guests, waving and smiling. The crowd cheered and cheered. The candy citizens loved their monarchs, and even the none candy citizens held great affection for the monarchs as they were idols of peace and equality throughout all of Ooo. While everyone was focused on the candy royals however, Finn was distracted. He was alert, observant. He felt something... off cue. He became restless. He glanced in the direction of Bersi. The mage was looking intently over the crowd to the left of the balcony. He made eye contact with Finn and looked back to the same spot. Finn ventilated the front of his suit, and began to sweat. He looked over in the direction of Bersi's gaze. The air over the jubilant party-goers was still.

Finn began to sprint. Knocking people aside effortlessly he jumped into the air as Bersi conjured a current of air to propel him like a bullet. The went dead silent as the human flew straight for the monarchs, his left hand outstretched and his right curled back in a fist.

A figure appeared before him.

Finn grabbed the floating being by the throat and _slammed_ his fist into his mouth. The human and immortal being slammed against the wall and then to the floor. The human scramble over the th dazed figure and groped in a pool a blood and picked up a large, curved fang before ending the vampire's life with a quick thrust to the heart. The figure stilled instantly.

A blood splattered Finn looked down at the corpse with fear in his eyes.

**Author's note: **Hey everyone, I must say I absolutely _love_ cliffhangers. Hehe. I LOVED writing this chapter and I hope it'll give your minds a million questions to begin asking. Like how did Finn know he was there? What was Bersi looking at? Why was Finn scared? This and much more will be answered in the next chapter so stay tuned! ;)


	3. Headless

Chapter Three – Headless

_'This is wrong.'_

"ATTENTION PLEASE!" Crusty projected throughout the hall, "MAY I PLEASE HAVE YOUR ATTENTION! EVERYONE!" The small marshmallow man was lifted onto the shoulders of Herick so as to be seen by all. The marshmallow began to reassure the crowd that there was no longer any danger and that the situation had never been out of control as soothingly and believably as his skill allowed. Finn wasn't listening though, his thoughts were on the young male vampire whose life he had just ended.

The royal guard had appeared quickly upon the scene to remove any traces of its occurrence. Finn looked up to see Bersi and Thints next to him. The mage looked grim, but the cat had a slight smirk playing across his face.

Finn turned to Bersi, "Call a council," then to Thints, "I need you to find Marceline, _now_. Bring her to Command." The pair nodded and the human continued, "The council will commence in twenty minutes, I will handle the monarchs and meet you all after." Then they both left to do their separate tasks. The human looked up to the balcony then ran up to wall and grabbed onto its edge. Pulling himself over he got on his feet and entered the room the candy royals had fled into. Two Royal Guards swung around brandishing spears, which they lowered upon seeing who it was.

"The King and Queen are right through here, sir." One of the guards said and led Finn to a side room and knocked.

"Head of Command, Finn the Human has arrived to see their majesties." After a pause a deadbolt and lock could be heard and the door opened. The blood soaked human enter the room and looked around. He was in a small, sparse storeroom. He spotted Bonnie and Twizzy moving towards him, and he met them half way.

"_Finn!_ What on Earth is going on?!" the hysterical candy queen hissed urgently. She was about to continue when Finn raised a hand signaling her to let him speak.

"Your Majesty," he said calmly, "you are safe, the attacker was dealt with, and no one was harmed. That, at least, we know. I would suggest a continuation of the evenings planned events." QB's expression changed to one of grim seriousness.

"Finn, we _both_ know who that was. The implications–!"

"Bonnie, please," the human's voice was lowered to a whisper, "I know how serious this is, but we have to continue this party. The Command is working on getting this sorted out, so please for the sake of your guests, continue the party." The queen looked him in the eye and nodded.

"I know Finn, it's just – this is bad."

"It is, now I have to go."

He bid them farewell and hurried from the palace.

The Center of Command is located just outside of the walls of the Candy Kingdom. Surrounded by dense forests, the high outwardly curved granite walls lined with ever-lit flames around the edges, an invisible enchanted gate that opens only for specifically designated members of the Command and people in direct contact with those designated persons, strong gusts of wind endlessly blowing over the top of the base to deflect aerial entrance, the base is **impenetrable**.

At least for a mere mortal.

The Vampire Queen was impressed by the little fortress her human friend has slapped together. She eyed the strange kitten that was her key into the base as she levitated effortlessly along the dirt road leading up to where the gate should be. The little kitty was terrified of the vampire (as it should be) and kept glancing back trying to subtly make sure she wasn't about to suck out his guts. This had made Marceline laugh and a few times entertained herself with slowly sneaking up close behind the cat and then jumping back just before the feline looked back. She looked over into the foliage to her right and winked at one of the poor suckers that were attempting to hide there as posts for the Command. _'Haha I would _not_ want to have that job.'_

Marceline was in a good mood, despite her irritation at being interrupted during her festivities with the local wolves. She hadn't seen her good friend in a long time and she was looking forward to bugging him again. Sure there was some issue with an assassin and blah blah blah, but she wasn't really concerned with that. _'I wonder how he's been doing,'_ Finn had become much more serious within the last few years, there had been a time when they almost never saw each other ever until about a year ago when she confronted him about his lameness and started getting together more often. During those times she found that Finn reverted more to his old fun loving self, he still had that world-weary and mature sense about him but he wasn't afraid to go out and get dirty running with the wolves. She realized she liked this Finn even better than the old one actually.

"Your Highness."

Marceline came back to Earth and noticed the kitten was speaking to her. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow. The image of the powerful vampire queen lounging back in the air looking down at him with that expression struck fear into the poor feline's very soul. Inwardly Marceline was busting her gut with laughter, _'He looks like he's gonna pee himself!' _

"We- w-we –," the cat cleared has throat and managed to steady his voice, "We've arrive at the gate, if you would."

"Very well." The vampire floated down next to the cat and put one hand on his shoulder. "Lead the way, kitten." The cat's expression of fear turned to that of outraged contempt at the degrading name. He said nothing a walked straight into the wall with Marceline following close behind. Once past the gate she let go of the cat's shoulder and wiped her hand on her pants. _'Eh... cat hair...'_ The kitten led her past various imposing structure that obviously were supposed to be of some kind of importance and into a small tool shack next to one of said structures. The vampire entered without hesitation, she'd been here before. The cat went over to a shelf and slide an ax to the right side of the shelf, then went to the other side and kick a spot on the wall just to the left of a bucket. There was a subtle click as the spot compressed like a button and a stairwell opened up at the far end of the shed. When the Command agent turned back to the vampire he almost had a heart attack, the vampire's face was only 8 inches away from his and she was baring her fangs in an evil wicked smile. She giggled and floated on ahead down the stairway.

As Marceline went ahead she heard something that sounded like _'damn vampires...'_ from the kitty and she smiled to herself. She came upon a door and burst through it without hesitation. The noise of unsheathing metal slithered through the air as several people in the signature armor of the Command (leather quilted around metal scales) prepared for an attack at the abrupt intrusion. Upon seeing the Vampire Queen they all resheathed their weapons, though some still kept their hands at the ready. Marceline sense an abnormal amount of hostility towards her, I mean people are usually kind of hostile, but now it was much more... present.

She picked out the soft, fleshy human kid – er.. I mean... man, I guess..? She saw him look up at her and smile slightly, but it was brief.

"Marceline, it's been a while. Make yourself comfortable, there are some things we need your help on."

"Sure, Finny." Marceline grinned at him, as she floated around the table at the center of the room and fixed herself in the air off to Finn's left. Across the table she noticed that weaselly elf mage, Bersi was looking at her with... concern? That almost made her snort out loud.

Once she settled, Finn made a signal to an agent standing along the edge of one of the walls next to a door. The agent knocked three times on the door and two more agents entered carrying a stretcher which they deposited on the large circular table at the center of the room for all to see. Marceline's interest perked up when she saw that the stretcher was holding the delightfully gruesome corpse of a fledgling vampire.

"This," explained her friend, "is the body of the would-be assassin."

Marceline noted that Finn was wearing a blood splattered suit. _'Such a shame... that suit looked good...' _Looking up at the human, "That you killed."

Finn nodded, "He was levitating, invisible up to the balcony where QB and KT had appeared." A few of the agents at the table glanced over at their leader at the informal way of addressing the monarchs.

Marceline raised and eyebrow, "Invisible? How did you manage to catch him using that trick?"

The human shrugged, "Wasn't difficult. Vampires are freezing cold, we were in a hot room with a lot of warm bodies. The heat rising distorted the air everywhere but around the vampire, he was outlined as clear as day."

_'Impressive,'_ Marceline enjoyed as she'd observed the growing prowess of the last human on Earth. "Makes sense. So why am I here?"

She noticed a number of furrowed brows and repressed glares at her question. She knew what they were thinking, but that's there problem. Finn didn't even react to her nonchalance, "Well first off I was hoping you could put a name to our friend here."

"Jermon, he's a fledgling turned barely a year ago."

"Got a clue as to why he was trying to get at the king and queen?"

"Look Finn, I really don't keep that many tabs on all the vampires in the world. The only reason I know this kid is 'cuz he challenged my throne a mere month after his turning, I destroyed him but left him alive to live with his shame of defeat. I didn't think he'd even ever show his face in public again." The Vampire Queen could tell this was exactly the answer Finn had been afraid to hear. Marceline felt a slight tugging at her heart-guts when she looked at the human, she could read the strain, agitation and worry written all over his appearance. She wished she could help, but she wasn't about to lie to him or get herself involved in some big mess that had nothing to do with her.

Finn grunted, "Alright Marcy, thanks anyway," he forced a smile at her, "and thanks for coming all the way out here."

Marceline shrugged, "No problem Finn," and she made her way back to the door.

"Oh and Marcy, why don't you come by sometime this week."

The vampire flashed a grin at the human, winked, and flew out the door.

He could feel them. Every single pair, boring into him like worms into the earth. Everyone in the room had their eyes on the human. Their silent accusations, ringing in his ears. His head throbbed.

Finn let out a drawn out breath. "Okay," he said slowly, "I'll be the first to admit that things do not look good at the moment."

"_ 'Not good'?"_ hissed Thints, "That _bloodsucker_ just proves everything I've been saying all along!" He looked around and met the agreeing eyes of his fellow agents, "Vampires revel in torment, chaos, and death. She goes out of her way to harass people simply for the twisted pleasure she gets out of it! She has no concern over the fact that one of _her_ subjects attempted to cut off the head of the Candy Kingdom! You can even see the excitement on her face at the site of a corpse! People with _that_ kind of power and who display _that_ kind of character should not be allowed to live uninhibited! It's a wonder that we haven't already declared _war_ on those vile monsters! For all we know this was an order given to _him_ by _her_!" Thints paused in his speech to look right at Finn. "We _must _take a course of action."

There was a long silence. Finn studied his pale knuckles, thinking.

"Alright, this has been an eventful night. I think it is safe to say that the attempt at the throne's heads was an isolated event. The Monarchs should be safe for tonight, but for safety there'll be two additional Command agents assigned to the night watch. I think we should call it a night and convene again in the morning."

There was a small pause, then the clearing of someone's throat. Finn looked over to see Bersi lean forward.

"It has been my observation that in general the opinion is that the vampire-kind are a dominant and present threat." Nods and general acknowledgment around the table, "However, it would appear that, once again, a solution for this issue is being avoided." He was speaking to the room at large and avoiding faces gaze at all costs, "This is not the first time nor would it be the last, but tonight a threat was made against our Queen and Kind, had not I and our Head noticed the abnormal air patterns by the balcony tonight, our Kingdom would at this moment be headless. It seems to me that if our esteemed Head of Command does not wish to deal with the pressing threat, for whatever _personal_ motives he may have, then perhaps the Continental Command of Security is in need of a new Head."

There was only silence. Finn stood there bent over the table, both hands pressed against its cold surface, staring at the lifeless vampire before him.

"I second that motion," came the voice of Thints.

Without looking up the human said slowly, "Very well, in three days time we will convene for an election. Dismissed."

Finn opened the door to his silent house. He made his way upstairs, undressed, showered and dropped onto his bed.

He just laid there.

He needed to think... of... about... something, _anything_.

His mind couldn't bring itself to.

_'I don't know...'_

He didn't even know what it was he didn't know... he couldn't concentrate enough to even come up with questions.

Slowly his body began to shut down.

Finally.

_'Alliah...'_

**Author's Note:** Well this is definitely my longest chapter. I don't know about you guys but this was in my opinion a really characterizing chapter. I had to put a crap load into Marceline, and there were a lot of subtle insights into Finny boy right there. I had a good time writing this and I hope you guys had even more fun reading it. Please Excuse any grammatical errors, I'm spewing this out at an alarming rate in my opinion and I simply don't have enough time to fully proof read for language error.

Also, REVIEW! Because I'm human. I need motivation. THANK YOU. :)


	4. Day 1: A Tour

Chapter 4 – Day One: A Tour

_– "The room was dark and creaky, yet as the morning sun rose over the horizon soft, gentle rays of light entered through the window. The sun's golden fingers running slowly, smoothly down the room's sides filling the room with light and warmth as it creaked subtly in the gentle breeze." – _

The contents of the room were illuminated by the continual rise of the sun. The wood plank walls were thick, but looked as though they may have been hastily or unprofessionally slapped together, the wood of the planks for the most part being varying shades and hues. A little lower and the light revealed a few pieces of mismatched furniture; a wardrobe, a desk, etc. Finally coming into view, a shabby wood bed covered in an armoring of thick wool blankets and animal pelts. And laying on top of it all was a resting golden haired human, the light reflecting brilliantly off the hair on his head and revealing the subtle light gold-brown shades in his tanned (but dominantly white) skin.

The man stirred as the light brushed across his eyelids.

Finn awoke pleasantly. He felt rested, and the warmth of the sun's rays gave him a soothing awakening. _'This is why I face my bed to the window...'_ He smiled to himself. Then, opening his eyes, he got up and got changed out of last nights outfit. After a quick shower he dressed himself in a pair of dark blue, slightly worn, jeans and one of his cleaner light blue t-shirts. He reached up to scratch and itch on his head and noticed he still wasn't wearing his hat. He scoured his room for it but couldn't find it anywhere. He stood up, hands on his hips and huffed in confusion... he could've sworn he left it... wait... _'is that bacon?'_

Finn climbed halfway down the ladder from his room and then jumped and landed on the floor. He looked up and his eyes widened. Before him on the table was a bacon, eggs, and toast -classic- breakfast. His stomach growled. He then noticed the pale-skined chef hovering leisurely by the sofa, one by one albinoizing all his red apples.

His eyes narrowed, she was wearing his hat. The vampire looked at him out of the corner of her eye, a taunting smile playing across her mouth as she drained another apple. Finn looked from her to the delicious food and back again. Finally he shrugged in defeat as his stomach rumbled again and turned to the food.

Without warning he tensed and lept over at the vampire, hands outstretched for the white bear hat on her head. He was inches away when, fast as anyone would expect a demon vampire to be, she ducked her head and tackled the over-ambitious human to the floor. They wrestled viciously, Finn struggling to retrieve his prize possession, the Vampire Queen tauntingly foiling all his efforts.

With a _-thuwmp-_ Marceline sat on Finn and pinned his arms down, an evilly pleased expression on her face and the bear cap slightly askew. He glared at her, but she just stuck her tongue out at him before floating up off him and out of his reach. She removed the hat and dangled it for a moment over Finn but when he didn't get up and jump for it she just dropped it on his face.

They stayed like that for a moment, Marceline overhead watching Finn with a grin on her face as he just lay there his face covered by the bear hat when... there was a low rumbly noise. Finn's stomach. And then he started laughing, Marceline joining in as he snatched the hat off his face, got up, and forced it back on the top of his head. His face was still slightly red from the exertion of wrestling with the Vampire Queen. He looked up at Marceline and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Get trapped by the sun again, huh?"

Still grinning, she shrugged, "Eh, you could say that. Just thought I could chill here for a couple and we could hang."

He chuckled, "Ya, sounds great."

Marceline let out a big yawn, "Cool. I made you something, as your stomach seems to have noticed. I'm gonna go catch some sleep. See ya tonight." She waved back at him as she happily floated upstairs where she probably plopped herself face first onto his bed. Finn just smiled to himself and shook his head when she left, _'that girl...'_

He didn't deprive his belly any longer, it's moans of torture constantly reminding him of the delicious food that awaited him. He dug in straight away. Finn was in a really good mood, he'd had a really good night sleep, he thinks he had a good dream but couldn't remember, it was a beautiful day, he has this awesome breakfast, and he'd gotten to kick of the day with a little rough housing with Marcie. The only thing that could add on to this perfect start would be if his brother had stopped by too. But Jake was just over visiting yesterday and he had his own family to take care of now so Finn didn't really expect anything there.

Finn capped off his meal with a glass of milk and let out a sigh of content. For an undead being who never ate anything but colors, Marceline _really_ knew how to cook. He took a seat on the sofa and tried to organize himself. _'Alright, today'll be a good day. I refuse to even think about... today. I won't worry about... at all. I'm gonna do something easy and laid back today, I think.'_ He sat thinking for a moment and came to a decision. _'I think I'll visit Bonnie,'_ even if Finn was still kinda bitter in general about the Queen, he was in a good mood today and they were still friends so he might as well spend some time with her. Plus, after the events last night it couldn't hurt to look after the Queen's safety a little bit more closely, one could never know.

Before he left he took a bit of a nap to digest his food and to be sure that he'd still be awake enough for tonight when Marcy woke up. The journey to the Candy Kingdom was a short one, but the human couldn't help but enjoy the beautiful day. The sun was out and the leaves of the trees were turning orange and red. _'One of these days I'm gonna come home and find my house plastered with white leaves...'_ When he got to the Candy Palace he was greeted by the little peppermint butler.

"How ya doin' Pep-Butler, is QB in?"

"Why yes, Master Finn, I believe she's having tea in her living room of choice," came the peppermint's high, scratchy voice.

"Thanks," Finn said before heading on up the Bonnie's 'Tea Room.'

As he approached the door he could hear QB talking to... someone, he couldn't tell who. He knocked and could hear Bonnie pause in the middle of her sentence.

"Come in," he heard her call, and he pushed the door open into the decorated, over furnished space. When he looked up he saw that Bonnie was sitting on a soft chair facing him, and across from her was – '_Alliah?'_ The Cosmic Princess looked over her shoulder to see who was there and her expression was that of being mildly surprised. Finn hid his own shock and smiled slightly, then he looked up to the Candy Queen who was smiling softly. She had an expression in her eyes... what was that...

"Finn! It's so good to see you!" said the Candy Monarch standing up and walking over to greet him.

"Hey Bonnie," he smiled, unsure of himself now with the presence of Cosmic Princess, "We don't have much going on in Command so I thought I'd resume my roll as personal bodyguard to the Queen for the day." He closed the door and leaned back against it casually.

"If that's alright?" he added, glancing towards the blue skinned princess (who wasn't looking at him anymore but rather studying her tea as she sipped it).

"Oh Finn, I'm sorry but I don't have any time to catch up today," Bonnie said her face falling a bit, though Finn still felt like she trying to cover something up... "As it turns out some candy merchant somehow managed to offend a fire kingdom merchant and the Fire Kingdom is in outrage. So I have to spend basically my whole day smoothing things over with them."

"Ah well, that's alright I understand." he said, disappointed.

"Oo but Finn, I almost forgot!" The Candy Princess almost yelped, "This is the Cosmic Princess. She's visiting the Candy Kingdom for the next few days to get better acquainted with her neighboring nations." Turning to the Cosmic Princess she said, "Alliah, this is Finn the Human. He's the Head of Command, Hero of Ooo, and an old, good friend of mine."

The blue skinned girl stood and held out a hand for him to shake. She looked at him and said, "It's very nice to meet you Finn the Human," her voice lilted smoothly, flowingly, with a slightly unfamiliar accent with the way she pronounced her "N"s and "S"s, "were you the one who–"

"Who made a scene with a vampire last night?" He finished, taking her hand and politely shaking it, "Yes, it was." He almost jumped when their hands made contact _'Did she just shock me?..'_

"Nice to meet you too."

She took her hand back fairly quickly and looked back at Bonnie. Who still had that expression on her face. Bonnie then looked back at Finn and said, "So Finn now that you and Alliah are acquainted, I was hoping you could give her a tour of the Kingdom." _'Oh grod... that's it. She's throwing me under the bus.' _"I had intended to do so myself but with the matter at hand I fear I won't have time, and she's very eager to see the Candy Kingdom." She gave him her best smile.

Finn was a storm of panic and nervousness on the inside, "Ya sure, that'd be cool." He's able to make it sound casual, as if she'd just asked him pass the salt. The Candy Queen was overjoyed, actually she kinda over-reacted in his opinion. Why was she that happy that he said yes?

"Great! I'll walk you guys to the door then!" Finn noticed the blue skin on the princess's forehead crease at she furrowed her brow slightly, but remained silent.

They got to the door and waved goodbye to Bonnie as the walked down the steps.

…

_'I don't think I've ever experienced such an awkward silence before in my life,'_ the human had no idea what to do or say. He could not believe that Bonnie had just lumped him up with a stranger and asked him to give her a tour!

..._'Well... wait...' _He thought about it a little bit longer, _'Actually... that's not that strange, I mean, she's new, she doesn't know the area, and she doesn't know anyone. Having someone as familiar with the area as I am and who's close to the Queen give a guest a tour isn't that abnormal...'_ This actually helped calm him down and give him some confidence to work off of. He looked over at the blue princess. She was staring pointedly at the ground, the smile she'd had the first time he saw her wasn't there now. He noticed she was wearing blue jeans and a silver blouse today, which he thought was odd. Normally Royals would dress more formally, even if she was a more casual kind of dresser he was still surprised considering she was visiting a foreign nation. She looked like she was at least eighteen. They reached the gate of the palace and exited through it and then Finn stopped. The blue skinned girl stopped too, after a moment glancing over at him.

"Um, so look," he started clumsily, "I'd be happy to show you around, I think it could be fun, but I think I can tell that you aren't the kind of girl who needs someone looking out after them, so if you want I can get out of your hair. I don't want you to feel like you've been shoved off on to a random 'Palace Servant' or something." He cringes to himself, he spewed out a lot more words than he was expecting and he braced himself for an impact.

The blue little princess looked up at him and met his eyes briefly, a small smile broke across her lips and she glanced back down. She was _laughing_? She was, and it was a pretty laugh, like little bubbles on a brook. The blue princess looked up once again, she paused a moment.

"That was a really considerate thing to say," she said giving him a smile that was _way_ too distracting, "Thanks." Her eyes had little sparks in them. "I think I'd like it if you showed me around. Could be fun." As she says the last part she turns and starts heading off in a random direction. After moving a yard or two she looks over he shoulder, a grin on her face, and gestures for him to catch up.

_'What the..?'_ The poor human tour guide can't tell if she was teasing him or not. In the end he decides not to question her sudden friendliness and follows after her.

The sun starts to get lower in the sky, the human tour guide estimates he's been showing the blue princess around for around three hours. The problem was that the Candy Kingdom wasn't really all that large or full of that many points of interest other than the palace itself. Finn had already shown the princess just about everything around the city he could think of. Alliah seemed to be interested enough in the city, she hadn't put it together that the city was actually made of candy and delighted when Finn offered her some candy flowers to taste. It wasn't till after he offered them that he realized that he'd just given a girl flowers. He could feel himself blush then, but she hadn't noticed and thankfully it didn't seem like she'd made the same connection he had. That is until she finished and said, "Thanks for the _flowers_ Mr. Tour Guide," she had an expression on her face and the way she said the word 'flowers' told Finn that she actually had. She did make the same connection. He could feel his face heat up a little at that but he'd controlled it well enough.

Now they were walking in a less developed side of the city, fewer buildings, more candy grass. Finn finally admitted to himself that the tour was officially over and said, "Well, that's about all that's left to it." He looked over at her to see her response.

"Oh," was all she said. She sounded a little surprised at how short the tour had been. But Finn also got the impression that she didn't quite want to go back to the palace just yet. _'I wonder if she doesn't like the palace, or if she doesn't like Bonnie...'_

"But we could just sit and talk for a bit..." He trailed off there trying to figure out what he said add on to that to make it sound less... vulnerable. _'I'd love to hear about your kingdom?' 'no' 'I'd like to learn a little bit about yo – ' 'no no no' 'uhh...'_

But he couldn't come up with something so he just ended up standing there his eyebrows slightly raised in anticipation of her response a tense smile splayed across his face. She looked like she had repressed a giggle.

"Ya sure," her voice lilting subtly, it was a really pleasant thing to hear, "I'd like to know a little more about the Tour-Guide-slash-Vampire-Slayer that is Finn the Human." She gave him a teasing grin. They walked over to a bench and sat an appropriate distance apart. They sat that for a moment without saying anything. Finn couldn't help but glance at her out of the corner of his eye, she was looking up at the figure of the of the city, the sun's light was to her back. To the human's surprised he noticed that her hair not only flowed like water, but the light actually shone _through_ it like water. He wondered what it would feel like to run his fingers through hair like that. She pursed her lips slightly, and when he glanced back at her she had glanced at him. Then she starting giggling and had this big grin on her face, Finn didn't even realize it but he started grinning to as she laughed.

Getting a hold of herself she forces back a smile, "So, what... exactly are you?" She seems almost hesitantly as though she's concerned she might be asking too personal a question or that Finn'll get offended or something.

"Uh, well what do you mean?"

"I mean, like... you're not a candy person that's for sure. But I don't know what you actually are, I've never seen your kind before."

Finn smirked a bit, "I could say the same for you," she just waited expectantly, "I'm a Human, I'm probably the last of my kind. Humans are an endangered species."

"Oh, well... what exactly is a human?"

Finn opened his mouth about to answer, when he realized he didn't have one.

"I- I don't- know.." He furrowed his brow. "I've never met another one so, really I don't know much about humans other than I'm one of them."

"Oh." That was all she said, she just looked forward, apparently deep in thought.

"Uh, so um, what about you?"

"I'm a Storm Elemental." She said matter of fact. This took him off guard, he couldn't help but laugh on the inside at the irony.

"You're an elemental? You don't look like any elemental I've seen before, you're not nearly as... volatile."

"You know many elementals?"

"One, a long time ago." She didn't press him on that which he was grateful for. He didn't want to talk about that.

"Well Storm Elementals can get kinda... aggressive if provoked. We are the essence of storms, after all."

There was kind of an awkward pause.

Finn noticed the gaze of the elemental on him, a glanced over and confirmed she was looking at him. He met her gaze and she smiled then bent her head back over the back of the bench to look at the setting sun. The human boy couldn't help stare at the skin of her exposed neck as he pushed out thoughts he shouldn't be having. Then he noticed that the sun was actually _setting_. _'Oh glob, I should get going Marcy'll be up soon.'_

"It's getting dark," he began, "is it alright if I take you back to the castle now?"

Still looking toward the sun she gave a little yawn, and a little stretch. Then she looked back to Finn, he could see she seemed happy and for some reason that made him feel happy.

"Ya, let's go back now."

They got up and headed back to the palace. When they arrived at the gate, Finn stopped and turned to the blue elemental. She looked up at him expectantly from under her silver eyelashes.

"I'm gonna have to drop you off here, if that's okay. I just remembered I made plans for tonight this morning and I'll be late if I don't get going."

The irises of her eyes seemed to ripple like water. "Oh, you're special lady awaits?" Her voice sounded teasing and playful.

"Nah, no special lady just a good old nocturnal friend."

She smiled lightly and her eyes seemed to spark, "Okay."

"It was nice meeting you!" he smiled and waved as he started to head off.

"Hey Finn?"

"Ya?"

"I had fun, thanks."

"No problem Cosmic Princess, I did too"

She smiled and waved, "Call me Alliah."

**Author's Note:** Holy bajeebs man... And I thought the LAST chapter was big. In OpenOffice this thing has twice as many pages as the last one. Well, you've been more officially introduced to Alliah now! PLEASE! TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK OF HER! **It is very important to me that I don't make mistakes with her.** So I basically just gave you permission to come on here and smash my story to pieces! This is like a Trolls dream come true! So don't take it for granted!

Also, I'm doing a little contest so to say. In this chapter Finn mentions that he had a dream the night before but can't remember it, THE FIRST PERSON WHO CAN CORRECTLY FIGURE OUT WHAT IT IS HE DREAMT OF WILL GET THIS: The chance to ask me ANY question about the story, ANY AT ALL, and I will answer it in detail 100% honestly. I promise. SO! Get to rereading for them dream clues! There is an actual correct answer I promise.

Thank you to all my faithful viewers, it means a lot to me when people tell me they like my story. I hope everyone spreads the love too! Tell your friends about this story! It needs publicity! Thanks I'll stop ranting now :D hehe.

Vech out.


	5. Day 2: Confrontation

**Author's **_pre-_**Note: **Okay. So some people are gonna hate me. Some people will find this more interesting. Bare with it to the end.

* * *

Chapter Five – Day Two: Confrontation

Finn practically fell through the doorway of the tree house, stumbling a little. He swayed some from exhaustion. Sweat was dripping down his forehead, coating his back and his forearms. His heart was beating fast, coursing the power stored in his body to sustain his weakened muscles. He caught and steadied himself on the edge of the door, pausing for a moment. Looking around as I came in after him, even in his exhausted state he had a giant silly grin on his face. He went over to the sofa and tossed his pack and sword on their haphazardly, his sword sliding off the sofa and onto the floor.

He turned around to face me. I could feel myself flutter a little, he was _not _unattractive. I moved towards him and our lips met as I wrapped my arms around his neck. We held this position for only a moment before I broke the contact.

I gave him a seductive look and began leading him backwards up to his bedroom, letting him watch me go up the ladder first. The room war dark, but the moon shone bright through the window leaving a gash of silver light in the dark mass of shadows. Finn cam up the ladder quickly and went to stand in front of the closer doors. He let me observe as he undressed. I let him undress me at his own pace. Our skin shone unnaturally in the light from the moon. His tan and my pale silver.

The Vampire Queen awoke some time later, warm and cozy from the waves of heat rolling off of the human next to her. She had her arms around him and her head was resting on his chest. His heart beat and slow steady breathing indicating he was still sound asleep. She carefully detached herself from him and slipped out of the bed. Examining herself, she decided she needed a shower and floated her way into the bedroom's bathroom.

After she'd cleaned herself up she grabbed her red robe she'd taken to leaving there and went back to get her underwear off the floor. When she entered the room again she saw Finn was still asleep, his arm still outstretched as though she was there next to him and the blankets covering his legs and feet but leaving his torso exposed. But this time she could hear his heart rate and breathing to be more irregular and quickened. He was having a bad dream again. Undoubtedly it was about _her_, Finn had never truly gotten over that girl after what happened to her. Marceline could still remember that night.

She'd heard the news from Bubblegum and had rushed out to search for her missing friend. She'd found him on a cliff that over looked a small lake, he was sitting with his legs hanging over the edge. It looked like he was planning on camping out there; he'd had a blanket laid out to sleep on and a bonfire started, probably to keep away predators as he slept. It was one of the few times she'd foregone her playful, teasing antics when around the human, she knew what it was like to lose someone that important. She'd flown down and just hugged and comforted the boy, she almost shed a tear for him. But only almost, she'd cried too much already to be able to do that again. After that day though, it was hard for them to see each other much. Finn never seemed to have time or want to hang and Marceline didn't want to pressure him into anything after what he'd been through. Somehow they'd grown apart and somewhere along the line, Finn went from a boy to a man.

When Marceline finally kicked the human's butt into hanging out with her again, she'd discovered Finn's loneliness. Apparently, he'd never gotten over not having _her_ in his life anymore, or maybe is was just not having _someone_ in his life. Marceline can't ever quite recall how exactly it happened, but somehow it did and she and Finn started providing _other benefits_ for each other, benefits that friends generally don't provide for each other. But they were still friends – _Definitely_ just friends. In fact, this only worked _because_ they were friends. She doesn't _like_ Finn like that, she's definitely attracted to him but she doesn't want to be anything with him... It's just that he's lonely, and she gets lonely over the countless years being single... So because they were friends, they... helped each other out...

_'There's nothing wrong with that...'_

Finn stir, twitched and made various other restless movements. Marceline was considering waking him up before he got much worse, but suddenly his features softened and he settled back into a soothed rest. Marceline leaned against the corner of the wall by the closet and watched him for a bit. It was still dark, maybe two in the morning, and the moon had moved away from the view of the window casting the room into a much thicker darkness. Just the way she liked it. Then just as she was about to turn back downstairs she heard a whisper, _"Alliah..."_ She stopped and returned her gaze to her friend, a sad look in hers eyes.

"Oh Finn..." She sighed out.

And then she glided silently down the ladder.

* * *

He reached out across his bed and felt the empty divot caused by the absence of the Vampire Queen. He just lied there for a few more moments, trying to absorb as much warmth as possible before leaving his bed. Finally, he forced himself up and out of bed. It was morning, he noted this but didn't find it to be any special morning. The sun was shining... whoop-de-doo.

He found some cleaner clothes and pulled them on – jeans, t-shirt, boots, hat. He did his dailies in the bathroom to make himself somewhat more presentable and headed downstairs. He found that Marcy had set out some cereal for him and had gone over to the sofa and just floated there, unconsciously plucking out tunes and melodies from her bass, her robe hanging from her figure. He smiled at her and said good morning and thanked her for getting something out for him. She just smiled back and nodded her head and closed her eyes as she returned her focus to the bass in her hand. The groggy human went over to the kitchen and threw together a bowl of cereal and sat down to eat.

He'd no idea what to do today.

He looked over at Marceline, who was still silently playing her instrument. She wasn't normally this quiet, he'd have thought she'd have said something by now or pulled some joke or... something. He couldn't quite think of what should be happening right now, but he knew something should be happening. He continued eating his cereal, then he spotted the little red flag waving up at him trying to catch his attention. _'Something's wrong... wow I'm a genius in the mornings...'_ He really needed to wake up fully, he slapped his cheek a bit in an attempt to shock himself awake some.

"So why didn't you say anything about her?"

It was Marceline, she'd finally said something. But... what?... He looked back at her. She'd stopped playing, placed her axe-bass on the floor and laid down on the sofa, looking at him. She seemed rather at ease and casual. Her tone hadn't sounded at all strained or out of the ordinary either. So he let his walls down a little bit.

"I'm sorry Marcy, I'm still asleep... I don't know, or can't think of what you mean..."

"The _princess_, Cosmic Princess, a.k.a. Alliah?" She sat forward, elbows on her knees and looked down as she examined her hands. "She's important to you, but you didn't mention anything about it."

Finn's face only showed confusion. He couldn't get what she meant, important to him? But what would lead her to make a connection like that? To even consider that? As far as he knew there was nothing connecting him and her.

The Vampire Queen continued at his look of confusion, "You were saying her name in you sleep last night and it seemed to calm you down," She looked back up at him and smiled a little, "so I called up Bonnie and she told me that you and Alliah had been hitting it off the other day when you showed her around the kingdom."

Finn was still on guard, but was confused. Marcy didn't seem mad, sad, angry, hostile, or anything other than normal. She was cool with it. _'Jeez, sometimes she is just the absolute best..'_ 'Wait..._ cool with what?' _There wasn't even anything going on with him and Alliah, and what the heck did Bubblegum say?

Finn opened his mouth to say something, then stopped. Hesitantly, he said, "I... I didn't say anything, cause – well, there was nothing to say..." She'd gotten up and floated over to come sit in the other chair at the table, he was a little unnerved by the lack of playfulness the vampire was exhibiting. "I only met her yesterday and QB kinda threw me under the bus to get me to take the Princess on a tour... Nothing really happened."

"But you _like_ her, Finn." she looked him in the eye and smiled, a little amusement filtering onto her face, "You didn't think that was worth sharing? Do you realize how _lame _it is to have to hear things about you from _Bonnie_, of all people?" They both grinned at that.

Chuckling, Finn countered, "I really dunno where Bonnie got that from, it's kinda weird. I think I might have to talk to her about that." He looked down and fiddled with the spoon in his bowl.

The Vampire Queen yawned slightly and rubbed her eyes. _'She's up too early, I should get her to bed.'_ "Finn, you know it's cool, right?"

"Ya, I know."

"So, what're you going to do about Miss Storm Cloud then?"

He let out a sigh, "I don't know, I- I feel like doing anything would be a betrayal..."

Marceline gave him a sympathetic look, "Look Finn, it's been over three years, and you've not let yourself fully enjoy yourself that entire time... Don't you think she'd want you to be live on and be happy?" Then she added, "When she's not, you know, aggressively jealous?" She smiled a little and he joined her as he recalled some old memories.

"Ya, maybe... but I still don't know what to do."

"Well!" the vampire said through a giant yawn," you should probably start by not sleeping with another woman. Good girls don't like players, Finny." She winked at him before floating back upstairs, stretching and showing off her figure as she went. "Besides, after last night I can tell she's thrown you off your usual game." She giggled as she disappeared up the ladder, leaving Finn with a flushed with and parted lips as he struggled to come up with a response.

* * *

He found the Queen in one of her new labs, one she liked to her 'Security-Developement Lab.' It isn't what most people would expect, though. Here she worked on creating new and improved Candy soldiers, a project she began after the expressed concern from her husband of the reliability of the Royal Banana Guard. Those giant bananas tended to be... well, stupid. So she developed guards that were smarter and stronger, the perfect Candy Guards. It wasn't going perfectly though, often the soldiers would go A-Wall and turn into crazed lunatics and she'd lock them up. Turns out creating stable life is a lot harder than she'd predicted. She'd taken to letting Finn dispose of the dangerous monsters that resulted from her multiple failed tests, as practice. It might seem cruel to someone who didn't have all the fats, but it was either he fight and kill them for the practice, or they get decomposed while they're still alive, since few others were capable enough to actually kill the monsters.

When he found her she was looking over into a large area surrounded on all sides by cages containing various feral creatures (the failed experiments). He approached the Candy Monarch, she had a clipboard with some notepaper she was scribbling on as she observed the creature in the cages below her. Noticing his approach she looked up and smiled in greeting at the human.

"Greetings, Finn! I've got some more horrible monsters for you to take care of if you would."

"QB, I want to talk to you about something you seem to be passing around?"

The Bubblegum girl held up a hand to stop him, "If this is about Marceline calling me earlier this morning, I was just repeating the account I'd myself received from Alliah." She gestured to the little makeshift arena in the center of the cages, "If you wouldn't mind though, I need to clear up these cages and get back my candy biomass."

_'This better not become a habit of hers...'_ Finn was becoming rather irritated at how the Queen seemed to be disregarding his opinion and thoughts of just about everything. He didn't complain though, he didn't know what she was dealing with right now and besides he liked the practice.

Rolling his eyes in slight exasperation, he jumped over the overlook of the arena they'd been standing on. Landing on his feet he drew his sword, and stood waiting casually. The first three cages were opened and the creatures within aggressively forced their way through the unlocked doors and eyed their adversary. '_The problem is she keeps making them with Candy steel scaled skin...'_ The six foot tall creatures were covered in a dull red tinged suit of scales as had as steel, the scales covering their entire bodies intended to be natural full body armor. They had forearms naturally shaped to each be half a shield that could be used to block strong incoming attacks. Leading up from their forearms to where their pinkies should be were naturally formed candy steel blade edges. Other than that, their formidable size, and blank solid-dull-pink eyes, there wasn't much to them physically. Mentally though, they were just as advanced. They had natural skills and fighting tactics engineered straight into their DNA. They were deadly, but nothing that the human couldn't handle. The three circled him but Finn stood still in the center, keeping them all in his peripherals.

The tension was interrupted by the Candy Monarchs voice, "I heard that there's going to be a vote in the Command's Council in the next two days..?"

"It would seem that some people don't approve of my decisions regarding the rights of vampires," He responded, not losing focus.

The steel creature most in front of him made a giant leap forward, and bellowed straight into his face. A loud, horrible noise, like someone renting apart steel with their bare hands. Finn flinched and stepped back, but then tensed and launched himself forward but to the left of the creature before him. He tackled straight into the second steel monster that had attempted to charge him while he was distracted, their momentum sent them colliding straight into the first steel guard. The fleshy human made sure not to get crushed underneath the weight of the metal demons. The three landed hard and Finn rolled over the top of the two as the struggled to get up. Before they could do so, Finn skewered the two through the hearts with one well aimed thrust between their steel scales. Honestly, he was lucky his blade made it through the second creature without hitting a scale.

"Are you nervous, about what will happen?"

"Why should I be? They'll vote me out, then they'll impose regulations against vampires freedoms. I already, know what will happen so I don't have anything to be nervous about."

Without hesitating he sprang to his right this time and landed in a crouched and did a quick three sixty scan of the area, spotting the last monster and springing back as he came at the human swinging his bladed arms in a deadly frenzy. The human let the metal hulk bear down upon him before slipping past him just around his left leg causing the hulk to stumble slightly past him. Spinning around as he passed it, Finn flung his blade in an arc, piercing the monster's armor and wounded him mortally through the gut. As the wounded guard bent over in pain, Finn drew the sword out of it and ended it's pain before it could suffer for long.

"Well, I'm nervous Finn. It isn't my place to decide upon the matters of the Command, but it needs you at its Head. Have you told Marceline about this?"

Finn shook his head. Then looking up at the Queen, "But she's guessed as much, she knows that the Command doesn't approve of me and her and given recent events... She's not stupid. She knows."

"So then what are you gonna do?"

He stopped himself. Looked up at her again, "I don't know, Bonnie."

"But the Council's vote is the day after tomorrow, Finn!" She sounded almost hysterical, again.

He stopped himself again, tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword and let out a sigh. Getting in a ready stance he said in a low tone, "Just let the rest of the cages, Your Majesty."

The master fighter made quick work of the other nine monsters, receiving only some bruises where he collided with a few of the metal beasts. After the job was done, several little marshmallow lab assistants entered the arena of corpses and began the process of decomposing the biomass for reuse by their queen. Finn climbed his way on top of the cage nearest the overlook and from there ran up the side of the wall to get close enough to grab onto the edge of the overlook and pull himself up.

When he got to his feet his was surprised to see the Bubblegum wasn't alone anymore. She was now accompanied by none other than Alliah. The stormy girl seemed, well, stormy than usual in her appearance. Her hair was darker and had a much cloudier appearance as opposed to water, he could see sparks in her irises. She was leaning back slightly and her arms were crossed and she was looking _right_ at him. Strangely, though, despite her change in looks from the last time he'd seen her and her posture, her expression wasn't that of anger or frustration.

"Um, hey..." He said with a question on his face and in his voice.

"Oh, Alliah came by to meet with me when she saw you practicing," the Candy Monarch explained.

"I was just watching." the blue princess interjected, "You're really good." She smiled a little.

He smiled back, realizing that he was covered in sweat and grime and feeling a little embarrassed by his state.

"Thanks, it's what I've been doing my whole life."

He looked from one royalty to the next, "Well, QB I think I'll be heading back now. No need for me to impose any longer."

They said their good-byes and he left as quickly as was respectful. That was just not a good situation for him and it was feeling like the more times he visited the monarch the more often situations like that were popping up. For one, he was embarrassed that he'd been surprised by Alliah's presence there, he was embarrassed that she'd been observing him fight when he wasn't aware of her presence. To be honest, he wasn't sure why it embarrassed him, maybe because he hadn't been being careful about how he appeared and he was now unsure of what she'd seen. He also didn't know how much of that conversation he'd had with Bubblegum she'd heard if any. Second though, he was irked at how people kept rubbing it in his face that he didn't know how to handle the problems he was faced with, at least not yet. He didn't want to be reminded, he wanted to deal with them naturally, without interference.

He stood on a hill and looked over the landscape at the grasslands. He sighed. He knew his annoyance at his friends' concern was ungrounded, they were just concerned. To be honest, he couldn't blame them for their concern, he was concerned to, but he wouldn't let him admit that to himself. _'I'll think of something, I can work this out fairly smoothly...' _

The human continued the trek back home, deep in thought.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Um, ya. So, I'm guessing _some_ of you are pretty peeved about the Finn-Marceline Friends-with-benefits thing, but on the other hand I'm sure everyone else is pretty happy with it. I feel like if Marcy and Finn had _any_ kind of relationship it'd be just a hook up, no strings attached kind of deal, just because Marceline is immortal and doesn't do the whole get attached to mortals thing. At least not in that way. So YA! Hope everyone liked the chapter, other than the very beginning I personally felt it wasn't quite eventful enough, but that's cuz I'm saving up! So stay tuuned my viewers.

One another note, no body got the correct answer to my question is presented to you all in my last chapter. There was one person who came very close however! Anyways, I'm still open for any answers people wanna throw my way, there were a lot more hints in this chapter too, some subtle, some very blatantly obvious. In any case, with how close some people got last time I'm confident you guys can get it this time 'round! I'll admit it is a tough question.

SHOUT OUT TO **LinaGaray** from Wattpad, she was the closest guess I got!

And another shout out to **WolfKingXio** from Fanfiction, you're enthusiasm about my story is really encouraging and much appreciated.

Till next time!


	6. Day 3: Genocatharsation

**Day Three: **_**Genocatharsation**_

_White swirls and vortexes of mist convoluted through his mind, clouding, obscuring, protecting. From behind the white shadows flickering flames of red begins to illuminate its way forward. _He could picture her, Serafina. Her light, skin that emanated warmth and joy. Her volatile, ruby hair flickering as a blaze over her head. Her innocent eyes that glinted with passion. Her tiny hands and feet and her common expression of curiosity and confusion that only added to her innocence. She was an adorable person.

This image of her brought him joy. This joy, however, always had a bitter after taste. For this was not her, he could never capture everything she'd been to him or to anyone. He could never truly be in her presence again. He could only remember.

What would she look like? What would we have been like? What would be different, what would be the same, who would I be? What would she think of how I am now?... _'No point in asking... it'll never happen. It'll never come up... All I'm accomplishing is burying myself deeper...'_

He could remember. They'd been sitting on the edge of the cliff outside her home overlooking the lake, they'd been laughing at something funny one of them had said. It was evening and the wind was blowing, He'd been hoping that day would just pause for them and give them the time they needed. He'd stopped laughing and was just watching her face, reveling in all the emotions he could see in her. All the emotions she was so comfortable in letting him know she was feeling. Yet, Time wasn't on their side. Neither was Nature. He could remember the panicked look on her face, but for some reason it took too long for it too register, he reacted to late. The wind carried her away.

It'd been a long time. He'd grown a lot, thought a lot. He'd accepted a lot, realized more. He was okay, _'She is okay with me.'_ His fiery spirit and passion for adventure had cooled to the blue resolve and calm that is strength, assurance and rightness. He recognized, though, that his old self was not gone. At his center, his heart, there would always be a flare of red.

He is willing to admit it now, he has come to terms with what he has been feeling all along. _'Alliah. I... I lo– '_

"Yo! Earth to Finn!"

He snapped out of his reverie to find that the one person he felt like he _shouldn't_ be talking to after what had just been going through his head. The Vampire Queen had taken a seat in the chair opposite him, trying to get his attention.

"Where have _you_ been?" She said giving him a taken aback look.

"Huh..? What do you mean?" He realized that he'd been giving her a rather annoyed look without realizing it.

"You look like you were having some nasty thoughts," for once it didn't sound like she putting a double meaning on 'nasty.'

Finn leaned back in his chair and stretched his stiff muscles a bit. It was the last day before the vote. Tomorrow he was more than likely going to be kicked out of his seat of power and replaced by his rival Bersi. It was what Bersi had been working towards since he'd known him as an Agent. Finn had, the moment he realized Bersi's intentions, covenanted with himself to not stoop down to the conniving, slimy power seeker's level. He never attempted to discredit Bersi in a similar manner, he only insisted on standing as a figured of rightness, authority and leadership. Apparently, though, it was not enough.

The human had been sitting and thinking of how to defend himself in the coming council, anything that could reestablish his standing or pacify his council members. In the end, though, he just ended up drifting off on a tangent and accomplishing nothing. He returned his gaze to his friend.

"I was thinking about tomorrow, the council meeting." He said watching for her reaction, but she was just passive.

"I'm not going to win this time, Marcy." This time the vampire woman looked a little more sympathetic towards him. Not quite what he was going for.

"Well, Finn, you've never really been one to actually like being in power. You're too much a goodie-two-shoes." She joked, trying to get him to perk up or maybe lighten the mood.

"Marcy, without me in power I can't stop them from taking action against you or any vampire," Marceline bowed her head slightly, closing her eyes and taking on a smile, as though amused by his apparent naivety.

"Finn, you should know better than to underestimate an immortal, vampiric being." she explained condescendingly, "Vampires are too powerful to be controlled or commanded about by mere mortals. Why should they follow the rules of and sacrifice their freedom to the likes of those who will be old and dying in the blink of an eye?"

"Marceline, you aren't considering that the Command is trained, organized and unified. Your kind has none of these advantages at their disposal." Finn's tone lowered to a softer, more serious note, "You are right they are powerful and immortal and the Command is a brief passing moment in their life, but something I've learned is that it only takes a brief moment in someone's life to ruin it." He held her gaze until she shifted and glanced away.

She snorted softly and shook her head, "I don't like this serious, doom and gloom Finn very much," she got up and floated over to his fridge, picking out some cherries and a tomato, "I just think you're blowing this out of proportion. All 'cause some novice vampire went and got ahead of himself." She delicately turned all his food an innocent shade of white.

The blonde boy didn't want to give up yet, he wanted to stake a mark on at least something. "Alright, but let's just pretend for a moment that the Command could make the vampires abide to the rules." She gave him a skeptical look, "What would you tell me then?"

The Vampire Queen just laughed and floated over him and pecked him on the forehead (old habits die hard), "I would say, 'Oh Finn woe is me! What ever shall I do to escape the wrath of the almighty _Command!_'" Finn just rolled his eyes. He would never get-

There was a loud _BANG_ over by the ladder leading to his room, both he and Marceline jumped and snapped there heads over to that side of the house. Before they could even register the lack of threat, the front door to the house now in the opposite direction of their gazes burst open. Actually, more like a giant gaping hole, with the front door as the center, was ripped out of the side of the tree house.

The human reacted quickly, jumping up he knocked the table on its side and forced the Vampire Queen down behind it before leaping over to the sofa up turning the coffee table there and grabbing both his ruby sword and Marceline's choice bass-axe. The two companions huddled behind their cover and Finn signaled Marcy to get ready to catch her bass-axe. He slid it over to her but halfway over to where his friend was hiding a steel bolt struck it, _hard _and _accurate_. The bolt cracked the neck of the instrument of destruction and knocked it way off course to its target.

The look on Marceline was one of horror, and then one of absolute _rage. That was her most prized possession nearly broken in half!_ Finn knew what was coming before it even started. He tried to signal her to remain calm and stay hidden but the vampire was beyond reason already. The pale girl's body shimmered and burst open as she grew at an alarming rate into a gigantic, ferocious-looking vampire bat. Upon the completion of her transformation she snapped around to face the offenders and she faltered.

"By order of the Command of Continental Security, Finn the Human is hereby under arrest and Marceline Abadeer is sentenced to _Catharsation _for treason and conspiracy against the Crown of the Candy Kingdom."

_"WHAT?!"_

Finn bolted into a standing position to stare at _Thints_, his _friend_. The feline was aiming his choice crossbow and accompanied on either side by two Agents holding reflective shields. No doubt there was back up keeping in wait in case things went wrong.

_"YOU BROKE MY BASS! YOU PIECE OF–"_ The Vampire Queen screamed, charging at the Agent. Before she could even get close to the intruders, the two Agents with the shields took a knee and positioned their shields just right so the rays of the sun were reflected and intensified at the giant bat creature.

He heard the vampire's screams of agony, but he was dumbstruck. He watched as Marceline quickly fled back behind the overturned table and the agents advanced upon the retreating monarch. _Catharsation... they were going to kill her!_

"Stop! I said STOP!"

The Agents paused and turned toward the enraged human. Thints glared at the blonde headed boy, his hostility surprising him.

"What on EARTH do you think you are doing?! Get the glob AWAY from her!"

The cat shouldered his crossbow and glided smoothly over to the human never faltering in his hatred-filled gaze.

"_You_ have no _authority_ over us anymore, _boy_. You have unanimously been expelled from the Command for treason and conspiracy to overthrow the Candy Monarchs." The cat-man got right in his face and before the human could react jabbed him hard in the gut with a metal rod he whipped out from behind his back. Finn collapsed to his knees as he felt the numbing effects of the pacifate rod, preventing him from making any kind of struggle.

"_You_ are coming with us. But before you do you'll get to watch as we burn your little friend here to a lifeless, blackened, little husk." There was so much venom, hatred and contained rage in his voice. Finn could not wrap his head around this. He and Thints were friends! Sure they disagreed about vampires but neither had ever displayed any animosity towards the other for it. This turned of events doesn't make _any_ sense. None at all. _'This is wrong...'_

"What _right_ do you have to do this? She isn't attacking any innocent, she's had no trial. She's not even committed any crime!"

"_That_ is where you are wrong. She is directly involved with the attempts on the lives of the King and Queen and we have every right to put this beast down once and for all." He pulled out a roll of paper, some kind of document. The human's eyes widened as he read the title; _Writ of Sanguine Genocatharsation.__ 'Genocatharsation... the process of purging the land of an entire species... the order for the extinction of vampires.' _A terribly malignant smile played across the cat's face.

"In fact, we have the right to terminate her _entire race_."

There was a pause of silence.

All of a sudden there was a terrible roar of fury as Marceline, back in giant bat form, lept from her hiding again and lunged toward the ceiling. Digging her claws into the brittle planks of wood she exerted her vast might and brought half the ceiling down on top of the two Agents attempting to corner her. The Agents skillfully dodged the wreckage but the cloud of dust and debris blocked their access to the sun momentarily. The Agents both ripped out flying disk blades and let them slice through the air at where they projected the monstrous bat to be. Finn could hear the _thunk-thunk_ of the blades meeting only wood. When the air cleared Marceline was gone along with her red robe she'd left by the ladder.

"Upstairs! Now! Do not let her escape!" Of course, though, the Vampire Queen was long gone.

* * *

Finn was lead to the center-most building complex of the Center of Command. The Heart of the Command (a.k.a. the Judgment Hall of the Command). He was brutally forced through the doors of a room and found himself in a council courtroom, with four council members gathered side by side at a panel in front of him. There were two he didn't expect, a fire elemental he knew by the name of Spieros, and what could only be a _storm_ elemental, but he could not remember ever accepting one into his ranks. Then there was _Herick_, not someone he'd though would be there but wasn't entirely surprised to see and then there was Bersi, the one he had no doubt would be involved.

He was forced into a standing position in front of the four counselors. He looked up at each of them but looked the longest and hardest at Bersi and Herick. Herick met his gaze unblinking but Bersi, he found, would not meet his gaze. Finn noted that the numbing effects of the pacifate rub were starting to leave his system already, a bonus of being human seemed to be tolerance to this form of resistance-control. However, he stayed calm and patient he needed an opportunity first.

Two Agents stood on either side of him, drawn crossbows pointed directly at the base of his skull.

He waited.

Finally, someone spoke.

"I am sorry it came to this Finn." It was Herick that spoke, his rocky jaw opening and closing to let of the guttural sound of his voice. "In light of new evidence provided by a sanguine co-conspirator of the vampire that made an attempt on the Head of the Candy Kingdom, you have been found guilty of conspiring with the Queen of Vampires to under go a coup and seize the Candy Kingdom."

Finn couldn't help but to wonder, _'Why is Herick talking..?"_

"As Head of the Command, I sentence you to life in solitary confinement."

* * *

He was dumbstruck. _'Herick? Head of Command? But that's impossible, why – how? Bersi–!'_ He was forced to his feet and lead back out the way they'd brought him in. He passed through gray-stoned halls lined with steel and silver gilding, the sigil of the Command, a silver bear, embroidered on shields lined the walls. The image of the giant stone figure burned into his mind's eye. His smug, satisfied, accomplished expression in response to Finn's look of incredulity. It had been Herick. Herick, somehow had seized control of the Command, with no warning. Finn felt like a coup had indeed taken place.

He was blinded by the light of the dying sun as he was forced out into the Center of Command's grounds, the sun was facing directly at him and his captors,both of which had a crossbow pointed at his back.

Finn didn't hesitate. If he'd been blinded they'd been blinded, but he didn't need eyes to see. He ducked, took a step backwards and struck upwards. His hands collided with the hands of each guard that were holding the crossbows triggers. The weapons fired, he quickly brought his hands down, took another step backwards and struck again this time hitting the quiver of bolts on the backs of the Agents causing them to fly everywhere. He did all of this fluidly, quickly, accurately and before any of the three had even adjusted to the bright light.

Both Agents lunged forward to grab and restrain a Finn that wasn't there. Using there momentum, the human shoved both agents down the stone steps in front of them. Reaching down he grabbed a handful of bolts and a discarded crossbow. He locked and loaded. Then he began to sprint.

He headed for the Prison Complex. Why? Because it didn't make sense, it was the dumbest place to go. He sprinted there, pressed against a corner and leaned around it. He saw one. An agent with a sword. He aimed, fired and the bolt struck the agent in the hip cutting his belt in the process. His startled companion pulled out a shield and sprint without hesitation to the nearest alarm post. Exactly as he was trained to. It was what he needed. Finn darted forward, grabbed up the sword and (hating himself and pleading forgiveness) lopped off the right hand of the wounded agent.

The agent was a _lizard man_. His hand was still alive, but not for long. Finn heard the alarms go off and he saw agents begin to crop up from _everywhere_. The flood lights came on. He was exposed. He darted around a corner.

He knew where the gates were, he was close to one. Only problem was there were already a hundred agents gathered there. He needed to get into a position he could draw them forward but be able to make a break for it. His gaze wandered to the top of the complex.

His mind made a split decision. He sprinted up the side of the stone wall and drove the steel bolts into the creases between the rock. He struggled up the side of the wall, reaching for the roof. He'd dropped the hand, he wouldn't need it. He could hear the wind howling above him. He finally pulled himself over the edge of the roof.

Quickly he stripped down and put on the high quality armor he'd taken from the incapacitated agents at the foot of the wall (the lizard man and the one who sounded the alarm). Once fully geared, he sent of a prayer to Grod and _leaped_.

He just fell back to the ground on his butt.

_'NO! I can't reach it!'_ He looked up at the violent torrent of winds above him designed to knock anything approaching through the air away from the Command walls. Finn sat there, defeated for a moment. He could hear the Agents approaching the complex, soon he heard the sound of grappling hooks being readied. The first hook latched itself to the edge of the roof. Finn watched as the first agent launched himself onto the roof and aimed his crossbow at the human. Then Finn watched as the crossbow bolt launched through the air, splitting it like lightning in a storm. He watched as that bolt buried itself into the chest of the agent facing him. He watched as the agent fell back over the edge of the building, knocking the grappling hook off as he fell.

Finn looked behind him and found a man standing there with crossbow at the ready. It was Bersi.

"Given up already, hmm?" The elven-looking mage said, his voice a little shaky. Finn just stared, gaping at the incomprehensible image before him.

"Close your mouth and get up, I'm getting you out of here." When he failed to react, the mage bent over got a tight grip on the back of his armor and took a fighting stance. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and exhaled. As soon as he exhaled he and the human were launched upward on a current of wind and collided with the wind-current barrier above the Command.

They were sent flying over the tree tops. Finn was sure they'd crash and die but their descent slowed and they came to a gentle landing, no doubt due to the mage's magic. Finn collapsed to the ground but go to his feet as quickly as possible. He took a defensive stance. They had landed in the middle of no where inside of the dark forest. Great, damp trees loomed above on all sides. The air was thick and the ground was cold and of varying consistencies. The sun had set but there was still enough light to see. He watched on guard as his thin rescuer got to his feet, brushing off the mud splattered across his right hip. The magi glanced nervously up at the threatening human.

"Finn... I know you're confused and you have no reason to trust me other than the fact _I just saved your life,_" he emphasized the last part making sure he got the implications of that into his thinking, "I need you to hear me out, I'm a friend." His tone was cautious, he had one hand raised partially to signal the blonde man to pull his guard back.

"You'd better explain to me right now what's going on Bersi, or I swear I'll rip out the knowledge from your mind with my bare hands." His voice was deadly quiet, Finn was _not_ messing around. The thousands of live of the vampires and his closest friend were at stake.

Bersi's expression turned to that of grief, "The stone elementals." His voice sounded fragile, like he was coping with a horrible knowledge.

"The stone elementals, did this. They engineered the framing of you and the vampire race. They sought to wipe out the vampires." He paused, as though he was struggling to say something more. The human could see the mage's eyes cloud over.

"They succeeded, Finn. The vampires have been purged."

* * *

**Author's Note:** This is where the story really starts guys. This is my favorite part of the story thus far. I have a lot to say so I'll be brief. I made this chapter to celebrate my story achieving over 1200 views and 'cuz it's Valentine's Day, so I thought I'd give y'all a treat. I hope you enjoyed it.

So someone has finally gotten the correct answer for the question I gave y'all a couple chapters back. Congrats to **LinaGaray** for correctly guessing that Finn was dreaming about him and Flame Princess meeting and becoming a couple! She will now get the opportunity to ask any question of me and I will answer truthfully and even post the Q&A in next chapters Author's Note. For those of you who want to have that answer explained to them more clearly just shoot me a PM and I'll gladly explain it all for ya. I'm guessing a lot of you may be wondering what the heck is a 'writ of sanguine genocatharsation' your answer is that it is a written order to 'cleanse' the earth of the vampire race, sanguine = vampire and genocatharsation is basically genocide but stated in the viewpoint of the killers, it means cleansing of a race instead of murdering of a race. One last thing, for those of you who didn't already pick it up, Serafina is what I believe Flame Princess's name to be. Alright! That's all! READ, REVIEW, FOLLOW, FAVORITE, and STAY TUNED!

G'nite everybody!


	7. Vralestra

**Chapter 7 – Vralestra**

Flames of scorching heat did nothing but beat down upon the world around her. Nothing but the thin piece of fabric she held over her shielded her from an agonizing torture, though even with protection she was feeling over heated. She flew swiftly, passing low over green fields, thick stones and bubbling streams and he cursed her luck, it was another one of those flawlessly cloudless days. No matter how she looked at the situation she was cornered. There was no obvious, likely way for her to escape or turn the tables at the moment.

The Vampire Queen had only narrowly delayed her demise back at the tree house and was now being relentlessly pursued by two Command Agents with annoyingly accurate aim with a crossbow. She'd already been hit on the outer edge of her left shoulder, it grazed her but it was deep for a grazing. She was determined not to be brought down by two _measly Agents, _the possibility of that repulsed and enraged her. She needed someway to gain some footing and then she'd rip those condescendingly superior heads off their shoulders. She'd teach these upstart mortals to know their place in the food chain. If she could just find some thing...

Marceline's thoughts gave a little hesitated surprise that comes with a newly found lead to a solution. She recognized this area, the familiar layout of hills and streams. _Jake's barn house should be nearby..._ A plan began to formulate in her mind.

She needed to hurry, she could hear the pounding of the Agents' steeds closing in behind her and she was tiring. It was hard enough trying to out distance a horse without having to serpentine to avoid any incoming projectiles. What she was about to do was going to be really tricky though, and it would definitely hurt. She took a deep breath and gritted her teeth.

The Agents closed the distance on their target, the expression on their faces tightening with focus. In unison they raised their weapons and took aim from the jolting and rocking of their horses. The twang of their crossbows burrowed through the air and they hit their target dead in the back. Reeling in their steeds, the look on their faces changed to that of astonishment and confusion, the bolts had pierced through the fabric to reveal that there was no one there!

Marceline gasped and exerted all her will to keep from falling on the ground and writhing in pain. She just flew straight ahead, faster than she could ever remember going before. She could feel her skin shriveling and sizzling as the sun burned it away. She was nearly blinded from the torture, which made it a miracle that, after what seemed like forever, she even reached her destination.

The vampire collapsed under the shade of the eaves of the barn and released the hold on her invisibility and the spell she'd put on the robe. She just lied there for a moment breathing rapidly and unevenly, waiting for the pain to subside just a little. She pushed herself up to sit leaning against the dull red siding of the barn house, wincing when the rough wood grated against the raw skin and the back of her neck. She closed her eyes and gingerly felt out the burns on her neck, face and arms. Her hands were mostly unscathed so she used their cold to try and draw out the heat on her burns. Vampires usually healed fast but, of all the injuries they could sustain, sun burns were the slowest by far to heal.

_C'mon Marceline, get it together already. This event has been going on long enough for you to get a hold of the situation. _The hunted vampire quickly switched her attitude back to that of the hunter. _Those worms have already noticed my deception, and they'll know Jake lives around here too, no doubt about that._ She looked back over her shoulders to get a glimpse assessment of the building structure. _There'll likely be some kind of rafters or something that'll be easy to hide in... so better avoid that. _She had to remind herself that these two thought a little ahead of most people. The little mailbox by the front door caught her attention. _That's perfect, I'll have to change form though..._

Her ears could pick up the faint thundering of horseshoes on earth. They were getting close and she had to prepare to meet her guests. She smiled to herself and even chuckled. It had been a long time since the Vampire Queen got to show off how she got her title.

* * *

There was a loud pounding on the door.

"This is the Command! Open the door immediately!"

A brief pause followed before the patter of paws could be heard. The lid to the mailbox crept open and a small dark figure flitted out like a shadow. The door opened to reveal a golden furred bulldog scratching himself under his armpit. The dog expressed his confusion and slight annoyance at being randomly and rudely disturbed.

"On authority of the Command this establishment and it's occupants have been placed under Inspection Arrest on the suspicion of harboring a-" the Agent speaking cut himself off as he and his companion let out an involuntary grunt of surprise and pain. The two were unexpectedly tackled by a dark shadow that forced them into the barn house and lifted them up placing them up among the dark maze of rafter beams and supports near the ceiling. The exasperated bulldog was left knocked on his butt.

"Hey! What the glob, man!"

The two would-be hunters suddenly found themselves on the defensive casting their eyes about in the shadows, trying to find good footing on the thick beams and weapons raised and ready to fire. The Vampire Queen grinned with demonic pleasure, they were at her mercy. She detached herself from the shadows and placed herself 10 feet in front of them. Without a second thought the agent facing her let loose a deadly accurate bolt of steel at her chest. With the skill and mastery of a thousand year old immortal queen Marceline leaned to the side caught the bolt on its shaft and crushed it.

The man before her stared in disbelief, in a split second she could see in his eyes the realization of what was to come. And then she bolted through the shadows and end his life with a snap of the neck. The second agent struck down with a readied katana, she was too quick however and shifted out of the path of the weapon. The agent felt a hard blow to his wrist - felt the bone snap, and then chills were sent through his body as the smooth, chilled hands of death gently caressed his cheek. With an audible _snap_ he too was ended.

Jake was utterly bewildered. He'd been relaxing at home waiting for Lady and the kids to get back from their walk when two angry Agents showed up at his door, frickin' knocked him on his butt, flew up to the ceiling and then fell to the floor dead! He looked back up to the ceiling, panic taking a hold in his gut. He sniffed the air, was that... vanilla? ...and death?

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw movement from above and scrambled to prepare himself for... something!

"Jake!" A familiar voice hissed, "Relax its me!"

"_Marceline?"_ The vampire girl floated down to the floor and knelt next to the two bodies. Jake's mouth fell open, Marceline had just _killed_ two of the Command! She'd basically completely betrayed Finn! What had they even been doing here? She wouldn't just spontaneously attack them, would she? Jake had always been a little doubtful of the vampire as a rule, but this?

"I know this looks bad but you need to listen first," the vampire met his eyes giving him a look that told him this was serious biz and he needed to shut up and pay attention.

"Marcy, what just happened?!" He couldn't really contain himself and he threw his arms up in the air and waved them around. Marceline picked up the two bodies by the collar of their uniforms and dragged them to the open door before tossing them onto their horses and slapping the steeds rears to send them sprinting off in random directions.

"Jake you gotta trust me here for a minute, something really bad has happened. The Command has gone nuts! They are claiming that Finn and I tried to kill QB and KT. They arrested Finn and tried to kill me!" The canine eyes widen in shock, his jaw dropping like a brick.

"Oh my glob! They arrested Finn?!" The vampire's expression remained serious.

"It gets worse," Jake couldn't believe anything could be worse, "They've ordered some kind of.. genocath.. something or other, which means they've basically declared war on the entire race of vampires." Jake changed from horrified to genuinely shocked.

"War against vampire?.. That's... really, really stupid."

"Exactly!" Marceline threw up her arms in gratitude that someone other than her realized the insanity of it all, "They are going to get massacred by the first gang of vampires they come across! I need to get to the capitol city and get the word out for everyone to lie low and avoid any none vampires while we sort out this whole thing before the Command gets slaughtered."

Jake nodded fervently in agreement before hurrying over to a closet to pull on his traveling booties. He then hustled over to a desk to write a quick note to Lady explaining the situation. Marceline raised an eyebrow at his behavior.

"I'm coming with you! You're gonna need my help with the sun still being out and all, plus I gotta help you spring my bro from the slammer!" Marceline made a little grunt of respect for the dog's loyalty to the human. She was a little hesitant about the idea of Jake accompanying her, though. She usually liked to go at things on her own (Finn being the exception -wink wink-) and she wasn't necessarily the closest of friends with the dog. She decided though that he had a point about the sun, he'd come in handy with that especially if they ran into any more Command.

They made their way away from the barn in the general direction of Vralestra, the unofficial capitol of the Sanguine Race. Jake enlarged to twenty times his normal size and Marceline on his back shaded by a flap of fur extended over her head.

"We need to stop by my house on the way, I need a replacement weapon for my axe-bass."

The yellow furry giant adjusted his course accordingly and they make quick progress toward the wall of cliffs and caves that contained the vampires recent choice of housing.

Marceline, as far as vampires went, could be considered very much a _loner_ which would come as a huge surprise to any one of her friends. Any who knew her would describe her as very social, teasing, and socially intelligent. But when it comes to vampires she generally stays away from others of her race. Most vampires are generally found in groups (known as gangs) of at least three, and the majority actually live in larger groups than that. Most groups are nomadic in nature but generally stick to the forests, mountains, or other darker shadowy places of Ooo. Despite, being separated into gangs, however, the vampire community is very connected and social with each other. This is why Marceline would be considered a loner because, though a solitary vampire is not unheard of, the fact that Marceline is Queen and has a home and throne in the capitol and still chooses to isolate herself from the rest of her kind. There is one 'gang' of vampires that is absolutely massive in size, so much so that actually qualifies as a city and is called such and that is Vralestra.

Marceline's home is located at the base of a wall of cliffs and caves, her little cozy house being nestled in the largest cave. Once the duo had reached the cliffs the magic canine came to a stop and shrunk back to normal size standing next the the vampire holding an umbrella shaped arm over her.

"Hey, you know the Command would probably expect you to return to your house. They might be waiting for you down there," Jake said showing his uneasiness with the situation, "I dunno if you should go down there..."

She scoffed, "Jake don't be ridiculous, of course they expect it. But it's such an obvious trap that they wouldn't really expect me to do something so blatantly stupid. So whatever 'trap' they got going on is gonna be lame and pathetic." She picked him up bridal style, "Now lets get going you weenie."

She hopped off the edge over the cliff and floated safely down to the mouth of her cave, the image of the two floating down with and umbrella over there heads might give some people of a different time period an impression of Mary Poppins. Except of course with a magical canine and a viciously powerful Vampire Queen.

When their feet hit the ground Jake literally had to cover his ears from the amount of violent swears, oaths, and vulgar threats the spewed out from the pale skinned girls mouth. She stormed straight into the cave to behold the magnificent pile of rumble that had once been her beloved home. When the vampire finally ran out of things to yell, she just stood there with one hand to her forehead eyes closed and jaw clenched. She was starting to get a headache. Those insolent little house flies were really starting to frustrate her, who did they think they are? She was old enough to have seen the destruction and rebirth of their world they live in now and was likely one of the most powerful beings if not the most powerful in the entire land of Ooo. They were nothing but a newborn little _club_ that'd barely been around for what? Five? Six? Seven years? Like it mattered. And they thought they could just come in, threaten her life, and destroy her stuff?! Oh man were these whelps going to pay, they were going to learn their _rightful place_. Marceline vowed to make sure of that.

"Oh man, man that sucks," the dog came and stood several feet away, "Looks like they didn't want to wait around for you."

_Ugh!_ She was just so irritated and did not want to deal with the childish crap she was being put through here. _Whatever, they _will_ pay. For now though I just need to get to Vralestra._ She took a moment longer to absorb what had been done then raised her left hand and ignited the remains of the home on fire. She then turned away and made for the mouth of the cave.

"Let's just get going already."

* * *

The unofficial capitol, Vralestra, is located in an enormous cavern and can consist of around two hundred thousand vampires at any given time. The city is only accessible through one entrance, an entrance that is very public and impossible to sneak through. As far as cities around the world go its probably the securest. With no way to invade other than through one out in the open pass and the occupants all being immensely powerful, it would be suicide to attack it. Which is why no one really ever does. The city is in a perpetual darkness, so dark that few non-vampire kind would ever be able to see in it. There aren't many very impressive structures just modest stone buildings and then of course the grand stone palace where the monarch _should_ be living. It's in a rather out of the way area as well, very few others travel or live near there.

By the time dog and vampire reached their destination, the sun had already long passed its height of power and was now getting close to the horizon. Prime vampire time was nigh. But something was off, the immense mountain that house the cavern city of Vralestra didn't _look_ right. It didn't look as she remembered.

"Hey Marceline... are you seeing this?"

"I'm praying to grod that I'm not."

When they got a closer look Marceline could feel her dead heart stop. She gasped for air, she reached out a hand and literally tried to wipe the image away. The one entire side of the mountain was rented entirely open, as though an earth of apocalyptic proportions had taken place with the mountain as the epicenter. It just so happened, she noticed, that it was the side facing directly toward the sun. She saw her canine friend sprint forward into the nearest fringes of the wreckage and begin sniffing around for survivors. Large boulders and rocks were strewn about the entire city, reducing a vast majority of the structures to rubble. The stone palace she could see was likewise split open.

Through it all though, the number one thing she noticed was the overpowering smell of charred flesh. Ashes and charred carcasses littered the ground _everywhere_, hundreds of thousands as far as she could see.

The entire city had been slaughtered.

As she leaned under the shadow of one of the enormous boulders from the mountain her eye caught a glint of an enormous mirror-like shield. The new trademark vampire slaying weapon associated with the Command. Jake had said that it kinda made sense, the Command attacking all in one day while they had the advantage and before night came so as to not let the vampires get a chance to strike back.

The Vampire Queen could not describe how she was feeling, essentially her entire kingdom- her entire race had been extinguished in less than a day. It reminded her all too much of what had happened to the human race, both times. And just as the slaughtering of the humans resulted in the Rainicorn-Dog Wars, so too will the slaughtering of vampires lead to a war. A personal war.

_I will Slaughter. Every. Last. One of them._

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the wait everyone, I was having major writer's block with this chapter. It was bound to happen some time. :-/ But hey! It's here now! So please let me know what you guys think I need to improve on okay? Cuzz I want it to be something you all _enjoy_ reading! :) Anyways, so I will continue to try to update roughly once a week. Now I think I owe everyone a mini Q&A:

**LinaGaray: "So what exactly happened between Finn and Flame Princess?"**

_Me: "Finn and FP's relationship started as it did in the original A.T. Series. In my version though, after maybe six months of the happiest times of Finn's life, Flame Princess died by losing her balance on the edge of a cliff overlooking a lake. Even though the wind knocked Flame Princess into the water, Finn still secretly blames himself for her death because he couldn't save her in time. This hidden guilt is one of the main contributors to the guilt he's been feeling over being interested in Alliah. Secretly one part of him believes that he basically murdered Serafina and went on his merry way to go fall head over heels for another girl (it doesn't help the Alliah is also a volatile elemental). Though this reasoning of his is irrational, it's something he has difficulty completely shaking. Oh and just as an afterthought, the reason Finn and Marceline had the whole... friends with benefits thing (at least on Finn's part) was to cope with the crushing loneliness he felt after losing Serafina. While he could look at that as betraying FP as well, my guess is Finn doesn't see it that way because he's convinced himself that it's meaningless as far as love goes cuz they're just friends._

BAM! There you guys go! Just as I promised! Mini shoutout to Spyro395! Hope you like the introduction for Jake, he shall be in much of the story to come! And as for the Guest who wanted clarification, I hope this answered your question, it is indeed a finnxoc fanfic.

PCE OUT.


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